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Georges St-Pierre saw Anderson Silva’s loss as a wake-up call

UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre and former middleweight king Anderson Silva were compared to each other for years as two of the most dominant competitors to ever showcase their skills in the iconic eight-sided cage. However, Silva’s run of excellence ended earlier this month when newly crowned champion Chris Weidman stopped “The Spider” with strikes at UFC 162. And, unless he’s careful, St-Pierre could follow suit this November when he faces hard-hitting wrestler Johny Hendricks.

St-Pierre recently spoke about the impact Silva’s loss had on his mindset while training for his upcoming title-defense, admitting it gave him a new perspective on where he stands at the moment.

“When I saw that fight, you know, of course Chris Weidman is my friend and training partner, I was cheering for him and I thought he was going to win because the style match-up and he was very well prepared. But it made me realize when I was watching that fight that even the best can lose sometimes,” revealed St-Pierre in an interview with MMAFightCorner. “It made me realize that what I got, I’m the world champion now – it can go away in the blink of an eye. If I don’t pay attention, one punch, one submission, one mistake, and it can change the whole thing. It made me realize that I need to work very hard to maintain what I have. It gave me that motivation.”

“It kind of woke me up a little bit,” he concluded.

GSP (24-2) has come out of eleven straight showdowns with his hand raised including nine fights with gold up for grabs. His bout with Hendricks will serve as the headliner at UFC 167 in Las Vegas.

"It seems like when you're champion for a long time, it's the fans, the people, that demand something different. They want the change. As more fights happen, they put more pressure. The pressure builds and builds and builds and builds up until it explodes. It's hard sometimes mentally, even for me sometimes, it's hard because my life changed. You need to find a way to keep having fun, and even though the critics are there, you keep having fun at what you do."

St-Pierre's reign in the UFC has been long and prosperous, propelling the 32-year-old to wealth and fame throughout the world, but most of all within his home country of Canada, where he's revered as a national icon. When he was a younger man, St-Pierre craved greatness, like all athletes, but he never anticipated exactly how much this ride would alter the course of his life.

"In Montreal, before I could've gone wherever I want. Now it's different," St-Pierre said. "I'm a shy guy. I'll tell you the truth, I don't enjoy being bothered, and I never say no to a fan. I say yes to everybody. But I don't enjoy this. That's not the reason why I'm fighting. I'm fighting because I like to do what I do.

"For the fans, it's part of the game, and you have to do it even though sometimes you have some days that you don't feel like it. ... You still have to do it because you owe them. They're the people that make me live."

Sometimes those fans can be a little overzealous. Those are the moments St-Pierre begrudgingly accepts the most. As an example, St-Pierre recollected an interaction he had with a fan two or three years ago in a Toronto airport. While waiting for his connecting flight, St-Pierre slipped into a stall in a crowded bathroom.

"I was sitting on the toilet and I heard screaming, ‘GSP! GSP are you there?!'" he explained. "I was saying to myself, ‘Are you serious? Is he really calling me while I'm on the toilet right now?' And I didn't say a word. So I'm waiting and I'm like, ‘Shoot, I can't believe he's doing this to me.' I'm a shy guy. I don't like to be on the spot. So I wait. When I finished, I flushed and I even waited the next five minutes to make sure everybody that was in the [bathroom] when the guy called me ... was gone, so it was different people because I don't want to be put on the spot."

It's moments like these, where the lack of privacy becomes overwhelming, that St-Pierre never prepared for when he was just another up-and-comer. Now, after almost a decade in the spotlight, most of which was spent with a bright red target painted on his back, it's understandable if St-Pierre acknowledges the validity of Silva's fatigue.

St-Pierre first verbalized this feeling when the glaring lights of the Nick Diaz circus were at their brightest, admitting that he was growing weary of the constant media and attention. St-Pierre still has plenty of time to write his own legend, but how long will he want to? His legacy as the greatest welterweight to ever live is already largely secure.

"I always want to fight the best guy, but there's so many guys coming up. They're all calling me because I'm the champion, so I'm the target for them," St-Pierre said. "I have the crown. One day, one guy [will] beat me; he's going to have the crown, so it won't be me anymore."

It's rare to see a dominant champion discussing the end so flippantly while still so relatively young. But more often every day, quotes such as these are becoming a theme.

"People forget a little bit," St-Pierre concluded. "I don't believe I will still be as famous as I am now, because I'm the champion and have the spotlight. One day I will retire. I will go away and after maybe three years people will start to forget a little bit. Some people will still recognize me. It won't be as much."